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The first man and woman came after the Three Gods Whose Names Cannot Be Spoken, and the two were a perfect match. They were tasked with creating the world and naming everything in it. [1] Her name meaned “shining in Heaven.” [2]

They descended on a rainbow from the Heavens to Ningen-do to give form to the shapeless earth. Together they brought order to the world by naming all things. They gave a name to the world, and as the name was spoken, so were their own names, becoming Onnotangu and Amaterasu, the Moon and Sun. [1]

In this moment the earth separated from the sea, and life was created. In the Heavens the Fortunes began to take form, born from the dreams of the Creatures who slept far below. [1]Together the Sun and the Moon walked the Celestial Heavens, at peace with their realms. They loved, and they laughed, and all was well with Onnotangu and his bride, Amaterasu. They spoke of immortality, and of creation, and Onnotangu built a wonderland for his bridal bower, filled with trees and plants, and all the beautiful things of the world.

The Lady Sun, enchanted with his gift, begged him to let her populate it with children, but Onnotangu was jealous of his bride's love, and would not hear of such a thing. Yet, as he loved her, they created the animals, and the beasts of the sea, and spread them across the world. But still the Sun was not satisfied. They created man, and still, she wanted more. [3][4]

Amaterasu wished to be gifted with a necklace by her husband. She invited him to a feast, giving him great quantities of wine and bread, which allowed Amaterasu to feed him a Black Stone. The next morning when Onnotangu followed his wife in the sky the weight of the stone made him slow, the Goddess sailed across the sky away from him, and then night came, and he was alone in the sky. Amaterasu promised to return if he gifted her a necklace, which he did taking the stars. In return for the gift she took her wakizashi, slitting him across the gullet, and the stone fell free. In his pain, the God let go the necklace of jewels and they scattered across the sky, forming the River of Stars. The God never recovered from his wound and he chased her slowly across the sky, creating the night while she created the day, and so the moon contiuned to chase the sun. [5]

The stone that Amaterasu feed to Onnotangu had been under the mud of the earth before it was eaten, and inside that piece of obsidian laid a small Greensnake, sleeping inside, which grew within the body of the God. The power of the God changed the snake, and it began to think beyond the chaos of animals. When the stone was freed from the God's belly, it fell upon the earth and shattered into a thousand pieces; each piece became a Naga. The snake trapped inside the stone became their first Champion, and he named himself Qamar. [5]

These creatures began to build, and the Age of the Naga began. They were able to change their shape into many forms, practiced art and war, and worshiped the Thousand Fortunes, and over them was the Sun. They knew that a time would come when the Sun Goddess would fall to sleep, but they cared little. The Naga lapsed into quiet contemplation, and they did not expect that when Lord Moon would catch the Sun they would enter in the Great Sleep, and the Age of Man would ushered out the Age of the Naga. [6]

Since the beginning of time, Lord Moon has chased Lady Sun about the world. When the Naga fell to sleep he caught her, [7] and many months later, there were ten children, who they named the Kami.

At last, Onnotangu's love for Amaterasu broke through his fear, and they created the Children, the sons and daughters of the Heavens: the immortal Kami. Their babies became the light of Amaterasu's world, and she adored them. So much, that she forgot her love for Onnotangu, and turned her face from him. As the Moon and the Sun gave names to the world, she forgot to hide her love for the children, and she spoke of each thing as another gift for her children. She no longer needed the Moon [3][4]

Onnotangu grew bitter. He began to hate his wife, their children, and the world they had made, seeing each as a reflection of the Sun's false love. So, as he gave Amaterasu the names for each beast and tree, he held one name for himself, and did not tell it to her. One thing escaped naming, Nothing, and it hid in Onnotangu's shadow. He kept that one name, the last of all names. [4]

Once, the People stood beneath the Bright Eye's radiant gaze, and felt her warmth. She was our lover, a mother to the creatures of the world and the beloved Lady of the People. Her eye was that of kindness. Her mate, the Pale Eye, Onnotangu, was jealous of the things of the world, and he caused her to weep for his hatred of her beloved people. The Pale Eye, cold from anger and envy, watched as the People sang praises to the Bright, and so he hid his face in the Shadow. He gave no warmth to the People, no friendship or hope, and to his mate the Bright Eye, he gave pain.

As they walked across the land, prepared to give names to all, the Pale Eye lagged jealously behind. Alone, his eye was caught by a small slip of Shadow which hid beneath a rock and did not want a name. "Let us make a deal," the Pale Eye said to the Bright. "I will provide the names, and you will choose which creature to give them to." The Bright agreed and it seemed a fair agreement, and so they spread the Names among the world. Jealous of the love that the People had for the Bright Eye, the Pale chose not to show the hiding Shadow to his mate, to let it stay as it wished and be free. And when the Bright had used all the names he had given her, the Pale did not offer more and the thing within the Shadow remained as it was, unnamed and unmade. After the Bright and the Pale stepped again into the Sky, the Shadow greedily used its power to feed upon the People. Pleased to avenge its father, the Pale Eye, it devoured the bodies of the People, twisted them beyond bone and scale.

Yet among the people rose a hero. His name, at the time was Qatol. He was a warrior, a dread-mind-hunter, bringer of food. The Qatol fought the darkness with weapons of steel and jade, but nothing drove it away. More died. More vanished into the Shadow, never to be seen again, their souls lost forever. The Bright Eye, weeping as her People died, could do nothing. She could not break the bargain with the Pale, and she had no other names to give. Angered, she sent her youngest son to steal a name from the Pale, but he fell to the earth with his brothers and sisters, defeated.

No name was ever given, and the Darkness that Walks remained free. [8]

The Lying Darkness, the bit of Nothing that had gone unnamed, attempted to bargain with Fu Leng to share his power with it. When Fu Leng refused, it grew fearful of what it had already told him of its nature and attempted to convince Onnotangu that his children were potential rivals. Shiba and Bayushi grew fearful and approached Hantei and Fu Leng with a plan. Hantei forbade them to continue, but Fu Leng informed Onnotangu what his children had planned in an attempt to curry favor with his father. Lord Moon's wrath was terrible and he ordered Lady Sun to bring their children before him so that he could destroy them. [3]

Amaterasu obeyed her husband and offered each child to him, though she shed tears that fell to earth as he swallowed each of them. These tears formed Jade when they touched the earth. But as he swallowed each child she also offered him a cup of sake containing a single drop of poison. By the time he got to Hantei, the youngest child, Lord Moon was very sleepy from the poison and Lady Sun was able to substitute a stone for her youngest child without his noticing. Lord Moon then fell into a deep sleep, and Amaterasu took Hantei apart and trained him to rescue his brothers and sisters. [3]

During the fight between Hantei and Onnotangu, Hantei realized he could not kill his father and as Onnotangu made a killing stroke Hantei rolled aside and his father's blade made a Hole in the Sky. Hantei then cut open his stomach, and his siblings fell out into the opened hole, they fell past Tengoku and down to Earth where they founded Rokugan. [3] As soon as the Children of Sun and Moon touched the Earth, they ceased being divine. While they were still not mortal men, they were also no longer gods. [7] The mortal realm was a jealous realm, and Onnotangu knew his children would never return. That would be punishment enough for their treachery. [9]

When the Children of the Sun fell from the sky, screaming their mother's name, Onnotangu cursed them all. He watched the Sun weep as her children were cast down, and he cried, "My wife has betrayed me, and for her crime, I will chase her through the heavens. She will have no rest, no peace, and she will forever be alone, apart from her children. As she took her love from me, so will she be forever without love."

"My children, too, deserve no mercy. One by one, I shall hunt them and their people, until the world is as red as blood, and as black as night. I shall destroy them, for daring to steal what is my own."

"But I shall have one child," said Onnotangu, gnashing his teeth with fury, "a son of my own choosing, who has never betrayed me. A child who has never known the Sun." And he went to the last of the world's creatures, the unnamed Shadow. The Moon spoke to it as a father, and he lifted it up from that place, and carried it to become the blackness between the stars. [4]

While Onnotangu was eating their children, Amaterasu cried and her many tears fell to the Earth, where each tear fell Jade was created. Then when Hantei cut open Onnotangu's belly Lord Moon's blood dripped down to the Earth and where each drop landed Obsidian as created. Wherever a drop of the Moon's blood found one of the Sun's tears the two combined to form a human man and woman. [10]

The fight between Hantei and Onnotangu caused a tear in the sky, and the Kami fell through the hole and down earth where they founded Rokugan. [3] As soon as the Children of Sun and Moon touched the Earth, they ceased being divine. While they were still not mortal men, they were also no longer gods. [7]

Only Fu Leng remained, clinging to his father. Hantei sliced his father's hand, breaking his grip, and causing Fu Leng (and Lord Moon's severed hand) to follow his brothers and sisters to the Earth below. But, at the last moment, he reached out and Hantei, dragging his brother down with him. Hantei and Fu Leng fought as they fell. [7]

The Hantei dynasty derived their authority to rule from Hantei's mother. Each emperor was called the "Child of Heaven" throughout his reign - referring to the original Hantei's mother and father. Amaterasu was venerated in Rokugan as the most noble and powerful of the Fortunes. [citation needed] Her temple in Otosan Uchi was the tallest structure in the city. [11] An entire minor clan, the Centipede Clan, was devoted to her worship. [12] When the Hantei line was ended and Toturi I took the throne Lady Sun showed her acceptance of the new Son of Heaven by staying directly over the Imperial City for a full day. [citation needed]

When Hitomi killed Onnotangu, [13] she ordered her daughter Shinjo to collect the seven Ancestral Swords of the great clans and scatter them to the heavens in retribution for the death of her husband. [14][15] Amaterasu departed from the heavens for the space of twenty-seven days, which became known as the Twenty-Seven Days of Darkness. In the fifth of the twenty-seven days of mourning, she committed jigai[16] with Hida Yakamo serving as her second. [17] Amaterasu's spirit would not join her successor, but returned to the Kharmic Wheel to be reincarnated as a mortal. [18]

Because of his special ties to the Naga Akasha and Hitomi, Yakamo was able to ascend to the Celestial Heavens and became the new sun. [19] Amaterasu herself had allowed it shortly before her suicide. Yakamo's sacrifice was the price for humanity's deeds. [20] And ever after, the Moon and the Sun circled in the heavens, always seeking to finish their final duel. The cycle of Atman had begun again, and again the world had found peace. [21]

Creating images of the Sun Goddess was forbidden in the Emerald Empire. Even in her temples, the only representation of Amaterasu was a mirror. [22] Despite this restriction, Amaterasu Seido boasted a large statue of the goddess. [23] It was likely that this was the statue produced by Asako Ochiyo, who actually saw Lady Sun herself as the deity visited a Rokugani garden. Though the experience left him blinded, it enabled him to make a true rendering of her without causing insult and thus bypassed the taboo. [24]